noun
- A system of land inheritance in which property is divided equally among all sons (or heirs) rather than passing entirely to the eldest son.
Usage: archaic; historical; chiefly British legal history
Examples
- Under gavelkinds, the father's estate was split equally among his sons.
- Gavelkinds was practiced in medieval England as an alternative to primogeniture.
- The system of gavelkinds ensured that no single heir received the entire inheritance.
- Gavelkinds differed significantly from the feudal practice of passing land to the firstborn son alone.